Almost all foods are processed in some way before reaching the consumer. Meat products, for example, are separated from unusable or undesirable elements or components, ground or chopped, mixed or blended, and often times frozen for distribution. Even lightly processed meats are cut, trimmed, and then packaged for sale or distribution.
Microbes are part of the natural decay process of organic material and invariably appear or grow in foodstuffs as they are processed or handled. Although some microbes may be relatively benign, others contribute to spoilage and some can cause serious illness if consumed. Lactic acid producing bacteria are examples of benign microbes while some strains of E. Coli, Salmonella, Staph, and Listeria bacteria are examples of pathogens and can cause serious illness.
It is desirable to control the growth of pathogen microbes or reduce pathogen microbe count in foodstuffs. Historically, microbe growth has been reduced by chemical preservatives that remain in the product and are ultimately ingested by the consumer. However, a growing population of consumers has expressed a desire for food products that are free of traditional chemical preservatives. Alternatively to traditional chemical preservatives, heat has been used to kill microbes in foodstuffs. However, heat processing or sterilization often has an undesirable effect on the quality or characteristics of the foodstuff and may make the product undesirable to the consumer. Also, heat sterilization in meats can kill all microbes, leaving the meat susceptible to the rapid growth of dangerous microbes or pathogens after sterilization, should the previously sterilized meat be exposed to such microbes.
The prior related application Ser. No. 09/213,190, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,838 B1 discloses an apparatus and method for physically manipulating a pH modified comminuted meat product to reduce the microbe content in the resulting product. The process includes freezing the pH modified meat product and then physically manipulating the frozen material to produce relative movement between points within the material. This process of treating a pH modified meat product, which may be referred to as “freeze/stress processing,” has been found to greatly reduce the live microbe count in the resulting product.